solipsistic NATION No. 298: Acroyear

Good grief! I had a four-day weekend and it took all four of them to produce today’s show, never mind the hours spent arranging and preparing for the interviews featured on today’s show! That’s the problem with the star-studded-ultra-mega-cool editions of solipsistic NATION, they’re totally worth it but that still doesn’t make producing the show any less backbreaking. Okay, I’m working on a computer—it doesn’t make producing the show any less carpal tunnel inducing. And, hey, have you heard? Sitting can kill you!

Sorry, A little woozy. I’m still spent from producing today’s show. But I crushed it. Let me tell you how.

Like the dark electronic sounds of Tympanik Audio? Guess what? It’s their five year anniversary and to celebrate they’ve released their Accretion compilation album featuring everyone from their roster of artists—from Access to Araska to Zeller! Paul Nielsen is founder of Tympanik Audio and he was my guest on solipsistic NATION when we showcased his label back in 2009. Tympanik Audio continues to deliver the best in IDM, industrial, shoegaze, etc so I asked Paul to join us on today’s show to catch up with each other and look into the future.

You know who else is celebrating their five year anniversary? The Centrifuge! Same deal. Wassim is the cofounder of The Centrifuge and we showcased his label back in 2011. They’ve just released Turbulent Topographies, the second volume of a three-part compilation celebrating five years of The Centrifuge. Extended an invitation. He accepted. Hear us talk. Better yet, listen to some beautiful music. And then go download the album because it’s free!

King Deluxe is also celebrating their two year anniversary with the release of their King Deluxe Presents: Year Two compilation album. They celebrate their anniversary by giving you free music. Nice! I celebrated King Deluxe’s first year on solipsistic NATION so I thought we’d do it again by chatting with PK, the label’s founder, and see what he’s been up to. Not a fan of phones, apparently.

Now we shift from labels to musicians.

I got a hold of Johan Ess‘s Vltrahex album a few weeks ago. While I’ve always been a fan there was something about Vltrahex. It was more then just Johan’s mind blowing music, it was something else. Vltrahex sound familiar? That’s because it’s a nod to Generation Hex and Ultraculture, and book and a movement—both of which are about magic and community in the 21st century. How many more reasons did I need to get Johan on the show?

[tlr] is one of my net friends. He also records and performs under the name NVR-NDR and blogs at Magicore along with his partners in crime: Johan Ess, tooth_eye, A Beautiful Lotus and Joshua Decker. He’s also released his latest album, Homunculus. [tlr]‘s music is usually pretty exuberant but Homunculus took a darker turn. I still dug it but I wanted to check in with him and find out how this album came to be. Were there hidden, darker depth’s to [tlr]?

About a month ago Lukasz Polowczyk emailed out of the blue to turn me on to Julian Sartorius‘s Beat Diary album. Julian recorded one beat, every day, for a year. No loops, no effects. Just Julian, his surroundings, his drum kit and a fieldrecorder allowing overdubs. The concept was cool but that didn’t matter if the music wasn’t worth listening to. Julian’s our final guest on today’s show so the answer is obviously yes, his music is definitely worth listening to. Playful, inventive and thoughtful.

That’s the show. Come back again next week and we’ll do it all over again. But completely different. Next week I do something I thought I would never do: I’ll be playing the best songs and best albums of 2012.